Time running out for Japan?

There is an increasing feeling that time is running out for Japan to combine new casinos with the Olympic Games.

Japanese lawmakers supporting a bill to legalise casinos said it will be difficult now to pass the law by next month, a sign that the opportunity to link approval with the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo is diminishing.

“Passing the casino bill in the current session of parliament will be tough,” Sakihito Ozawa, a lower house member, said. Japan’s parliament, or Diet, meets until June 22 and the bill must be sent to the upper house at least 20 days before the session ends, he said.

The country’s ruling party and business leaders have promoted casinos as a tourism-boosting complement to the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo. The current Diet session offers the last chance for passage of a casino bill in time to have gambling resorts open by then.